wireless router advice

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I just bought a laptop and I need to get hooked up with wireless in my house, trouble is I have no idea where to start. What should I be looking for? I'm not looking for anything too high end, but I don't want a piece of crap either that's going to give me a weak signal that cuts out all the time.

Linksys seems to make some really good stuff, it's all I use for my networking right now and really holds up great. At my apartment semester before last I had a Belkin router that was awful, maybe it was the router, maybe it's Belkin, I don't know. However, I'd stay away from those.

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I second Linksys...I bought one for my folks (recently replaced it with a Wireless G router), and I have one as well, and have never had any problems whatsoever.

Not to hijack, but I'm having issues with my sister's computer at my folks house. I just recently reformatted the hard drive (WinXP, but no Service Packs as of yet), and got a USB G wireless adapter. For some reason, I cannot keep a connection with the router. I had it set up before in the same location, and it was running just fine.

I have tried everything, reinstalled the adapter, different settings on the router (my folks are wired to the router, so they are on fine, and the modem works perfectly as well), etc. And no matter what, I'll get a connection for 30 seconds and then it craps out.

fourth on the linksys, its the standard... anything beyond G isn't going to be noticeable unless you transfer a LOT of big files between computers (for broadband internet b is fine even). If you can get something with extended range for the sasme price, i'd consider that.

for the guy with problems: some phones and all microwaves share the same frequency (in case it cuts out when those are being used). Though from what you describe it sounds like you should try two things. A) buy an antenna to amp up the signal (bestbuy sells a pair for linksys routers for 40$... you can do a lot better online, but if the bestbuy stuff doesn't help, its a lot easier to take it back). and B) in the router config try changing the channel (its probably on 6, try 1 or 11.. all routers default to 6, so other people's newly installed networks could be the reason why its cutting out now. switching to a non-default channel can help that. even though there's 11 channels in the config, only 1, 6, and 11 are completely seperate from each other's signals).

I also had a belkin (cause it was 5$) and it was TERRIBLE. I turned on 128 WEP encryption and the router died. just refused to work at all in any way and i couldn't re-flash the bios or reset it in any way.

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I fifth or sixth the Linksys, it really is the best wireless solution. Also, with all the BestBuy links, I'd recommend Circuit City if you have one in the area (shameless plug, I work for Corp.) But also, CC & BestBuy carry the same products, & if BestBuy has it cheaper, CC will match & beat their price so you get the best possible deal.

Just off the subject a little bit, if I have the time I always get my stuff online from newegg.com. I HATE how Best Buy (not sure if Circuit City does this) has "$20 HARD DRIVE!! (with $150 mail-in rebate). I mean that SUCKS.

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Just off the subject a little bit, if I have the time I always get my stuff online from newegg.com. I HATE how Best Buy (not sure if Circuit City does this) has "$20 HARD DRIVE!! (with $150 mail-in rebate). I mean that SUCKS.

its a good deal for me... you gotta be religious on the rebate though. But since other people are lazy, I get a much better deal.